Black students near bottom in nation on benchmark math, reading test

'Nation's report card' posts stagnant education scores in Wisconsin

Black students scored lower this year in every category of the nation's benchmark reading and math test, which also showed that for all the dynamism in Wisconsin's education scene, student achievement remains stagnant.

The National Assessment of Education Progress showed Wisconsin students overall continue to do well in math; for 2013, the state ranked in the top one-third nationally. But reading scores overall were flat, sitting right at the national average — and virtually the same as they were more than 20 years ago.

Scores for black students were grim. Eighth-grade reading scores for black students were the worst in any state by any ethnic group. Fourth-grade reading scores for black students were the second worst. And black students in only three states had lower average math scores than Wisconsin's black fourth-graders and eighth-graders.

The gap between black and white students in Wisconsin was the widest in the nation — again in every test category. That wasn't the only gap that stood out: The divergence between white and Hispanic fourth-graders in math was the nation's widest.

The NAEP, known as the nation's report card, tests fourth- and eighth-grade students in reading and math every two years. The students, from both public and private schools, are rated at basic, proficient and advanced levels. This year, 377,000 fourth-graders and 342,000 eighth-graders across the country took the test.

Statewide, there were no meaningful increases in the percentage of students rated proficient in math and reading. In math, 47% of fourth-graders and 40% of eighth-graders were proficient or advanced. In reading, 35% of fourth-graders and 36% of eighth-graders were proficient or advanced.

"We can be pleased that Wisconsin's mathematics achievement is above the national average," State Superintendent Tony Evers said in a release Thursday. "However, our pace of improvement in mathematics has slowed, and the state's reading results have remained flat. We must remain focused on our efforts to improve achievement for all students so they graduate ready for college and careers. This means continuing to implement our new, more rigorous academic standards and our work in reading instruction."

Steven Dykstra, a founding member of the Wisconsin Reading Coalition, a grass-roots group devoted to reforming reading instruction, said the state needs to start imitating reforms in other states by training teachers more effectively. In the past, Wisconsin students ranked as high as third in the nation in reading.

"This isn't a surprise. The last time we did well in reading was when everyone sucked at reading," Dykstra said. "When some states started doing better, they very quickly left us behind."

"Left behind" is precisely what the data shows is happening to Wisconsin's black students:

■Eighth-graders, reading: 9% were judged at or above proficient; 55% rated below basic, the most of any state.

■Fourth-graders, reading: 11% were at or above proficient; 65% scored below basic, the most of any state.

■Eighth-graders, math: 8% were at or above proficient; 62% rated below basic, better than only three states.

■Fourth-graders, math: 12% were at or above proficient; 46% scored below basic, again with only three states performing worse.

Henry Kranendonk, a retired Milwaukee Public Schools math curriculum planner and NAEP board member, said Wisconsin's failure to narrow the disparity — which has existed for decades — is a challenge for Milwaukee in particular because it has the highest concentration of minority students. Kranendonk said the problem has long been weak standards for what students should know, and he was hopeful the recent adoption of standards more in line with NAEP, called Common Core State Standards, would help.

"If we use (the standards) seriously and provide resources for schools to help teachers, and provide structure for implementing those standards, I think that would help us address the achievement gap, and the biggest beneficiary of this would be Milwaukee Public Schools," he said.

Higher academic standards has also been a mantra for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. If schools can't produce more high school graduates, it will stunt the region's economic growth, which includes a forecast 7% increase in jobs by 2020, MMAC President Tim Sheehy said.

"Left unchecked, the consequences are dire," Sheehy said of the test results. "We think Wisconsin is way behind in its effort to pursue higher standards. In this case demography is destiny, and we're all in for trying to figure out how we can help the community and the schools educate kids, because if we don't, the growth isn't going to be there."

Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), chairman of the Senate Education Committee, said the achievement gap is an embarrassment.

"When black students have the biggest achievement gap in the country, for a state like Wisconsin, that's ridiculous," he said. Some recent reforms may help the stagnation in progress, Olsen said, including new school accountability reports and teacher effectiveness programs.

"We need to be worried because if you're not getting better, you're getting worse," Olsen said.